Also, realize this...a fast handed guy pot shotting Chad in a fight Chad only trained 4 weeks for and having Bernard do that in a fight he trained SEVEN weeks for is a much different act to carry out...when Chad is on his game and ready there is no one in the world who is going to "pot shot" that guy...and Bernard, listen, again,the FACT is that Bernard gets away with illegal and borderline illegal tactics that favor him in a big way...you have a ref who is very much on the game and not intimidated by Bernard and his tactics, have a ref who wil make it a clean fight, and Bernard is a MUCH DIFFERENT AND MUCH LESS EFFECTIVE guy...that is a F-A-C-T

I agree with all of that, but the fact is he does do all those things, and he does get away with them, and they were making Chad uncomfortable.

What was chad going to do to negate Bernards head? And what was he going to change to prevent Bernard rushing in and stepping around him, and using his knees to check chads balance?

How was chad planning to up the workrate with Bernards tendency to clench to keep you from working?

Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't Pottshotting basically all that Jean Pascal did to beat Dawson?

I am sure that you have been working with him on those deficiencies, as well as his tendency to be comfortable punching at an opponents gloves instead of trying to punch through them as we saw in both Tarver and Johnson fights.

I agree with you though that Dawson was doing well in the first 2 rounds. The deficiency that I did see however that I could see Hopkins capitalizing on was Chads tendency to turtle up when Hopkins came in with the head to the point where Hopkins could step around him put him off balance without Chad trying to pivot to get in a position where he can punch effectively from. We saw that when Hopkins put Dawson on the Canvas.

There is no doubt that Bernard went into the fight with the intention of making it a SLOW, UGLY, and most importantly ROUGH fight.

We saw him using his head in the first two rounds, and as both you and I know, he does that to frustrate you, to get you mad, and to get you to lose focus.

Judging by how Chad threw Hopkins to the canvas, and how Mad he was in the ring standing in the corner while Hopkins was being attended too, it was working.

Physically, Chad was MUCH stronger. He was clearly getting the better of every attempt of Hopkins to wrestle around with him on the inside, as is clear by how easily he threw Hopkins.

He was also CLEARLY the faster of the two. What worries me though, is that is speed didn't appear to be bothering Hopkins that much, if at all. It wasn't helping him catch Hopkins off guard, it wasn't helping him counter Hopkins, it really wasn't doing much.

Now that could have played out in two ways. Either Hopkins already had Chads timing down, and his speed Never would have come into play as a factor, or it would have shown up down the stretch as Hopkins presumably slowed down.

The most important thing though, and the thing that makes me thing Hopkins had a real chance in the fight is the pace they were fighting at.

All the prefight talk was about how Chad had found the fire, and Chad was gonna throw punches in bunches, and Chad was gonna go for the kill, etc.

His number one priority should have been to elevate the pace to a level high enough to get Hopkins heart rate pushing towards his Lactate threshold, which being much older than Chad, is obviously going to be much lower. He was making now effort to drain Hopkins tank, and this seriously leads me to the conclusion that Dawson was the same fighter he was before. One that can easily be lulled into a slow pace low output fight. That kind of fight will always favor Hopkins.

This fight was always going to be close, it was always going to be a questions of whether Chad Dawson was going to be able to find the Fire and exert his youth on Hopkins, or whether Hopkins was going to be able to tame his Youth an slow the pace to his pace.

From what I saw, he was succeeding in Slowing the pace. Would have have been able to continue to keep the pace slow?

I don't know. All I know is the fight would have been rough. Chad would have come out marked up from headbutts, elbows, and knees. And the fight was never going to be easy to judge.

Chad is a great physical talent, Bernard is a great mental talent. This is an outcome that can be debated for ages much like the classic Boxer vs Puncher debate.

My 2 cents. Keep up the good work Ice, you were definitely telling him the right things in the corner.

Hopkins was analyzing Dawson, but Dawson was also analyzing Hopkins. Hopkins for most of the fight was fighting off his back-foot. Eventually Dawson would have nailed Hopkins in the later rounds. It's really not fair to Dawson to fight someone who can be shot overnight, yet nuthuggers still think highly of him. Hopkins is nowhere near his prime, like he was 10 years ago. Roy Jones makes a good point of Hopkins of being a bottom-feeder. I've noticed Hopkins started slipping in 2005 when he fought Howard Eastman. So Hopkins has been past it for the last six years, and he's also been selectively picking his opponents. He wouldn't fight someone like Bute, or even Ward, but he was forced to fight Dawson. Hopkins is good but not as good as some people think.

Oh and Dawson wasn't knocked down, he slipped the punch and Hopkins immediately grabbed his arm. That's what caused Dawson's glove to touch the canvas.

hopkins was analyzing dawson, but dawson was also analyzing hopkins. Hopkins for most of the fight was fighting off his back-foot. Eventually dawson would have nailed hopkins in the later rounds. It's really not fair to dawson to fight someone who can be shot overnight, yet nuthuggers still think highly of him. Hopkins is nowhere near his prime, like he was 10 years ago. Roy jones makes a good point of hopkins of being a bottom-feeder. I've noticed hopkins started slipping in 2005 when he fought howard eastman. So hopkins has been past it for the last six years, and he's also been selectively picking his opponents. He wouldn't fight someone like bute, or even ward, but he was forced to fight dawson. Hopkins is good but not as good as some people think.

Oh and dawson wasn't knocked down, he slipped the punch and hopkins immediately grabbed his arm. That's what caused dawson's glove to touch the canvas.

Iceman, you skipped over my question! Which other pro boxers are you currently training? If there's some fighter you're secretly training and aren't supposed to tell, I understand. I was just curious to know.

Iceman, you skipped over my question! Which other pro boxers are you currently training? If there's some fighter you're secretly training and aren't supposed to tell, I understand. I was just curious to know.

Im working with a few guys besides Chad, some up and comers, young types...Kevin Cobbs and Nick Lavin are two with fights coming up...Mike Oliver, too...plus a bunch of amateurs...